Base of Operations: The Continuum;
formerly mobile across the universe;
formerly Yomi (The Japanese Underworld)

First Appearance: Thor: Blood Oath#6 (February, 2006)

Powers/Abilities:
More akin to a force of nature than a physical being, Mikaboshi's true form is elusive. His true form is an immortal, formless void, which can absorb and add any matter to his own form. He can duplicate superhuman abilities and turn beings into puppet-like slaves by infecting them with himself after killing them. Seemingly indestructible and omnipotent Mikaboshi as the Chaos King is an unstoppable force of nature and the counterpart to Eternity as Mikaboshi represents the void of nothingness.

Reduced to a mere demonic entity native to the Japanese underworld known as Yomi
he possessed demonic attributes with others Oni such as
superhuman strength (lifting 20 tons), resistance to injury and an
ability to tap into and manipulate magical energies. His most commonly used power is his metamorphic ability; although he can alter his shape, he is almost always represented as a being of black, shadowy energy with a mask for a face. He can reshape his limbs into razor-sharp blades, and assume the form of a fire-breathing serpent.
Mikaboshi is immortal, possessing
a life essence that cannot be terminated by conventional means.
Although he can be wounded in battle, his godly life force gives him
incredible recuperative abilities. Only an injury sufficient to disperse
a major portion of his bodily molecules could cause him physical
death. Even then, his life essence may still endure. Mikaboshi is an
accomplished strategist, although his preferred tactic is to simply
overwhelm opponents with the sheer number of his demonic foot
soldiers. His army contains many netherworld denizens, mostly
shinma and oni. Mikaboshi speaks entirely in haiku, a form of
Japanese poetry composed of three metrical phrases.

History:

(Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica) - Billions of years ago, the Shinto gods Izanagi and
Izanami ventured into a formless world dominated by a dark, primordial
void where the ancient force of nature known as Amatsu-Mikaboshi
existed and reigned alone. The divine couple descended to the land
masses they created within the void and populated them with living
creatures as well as lesser Amatsu-kami who later were worshipped as
gods by Japan's inhabitants. This enraged Mikaboshi, by abruptly ending
his solitary existence with their acts of creation. His attempts to topple
the fledgling Amatsu-kami pantheon were foiled, and he was forced to
descend to Yomi, the gloomy and desolate realm that Izanagi designated
as the Shinto underworld; the Amatsu-kami's realm was named Ama. In
Yomi, Mikaboshi usurped control over the legions of shinma (demons),
oni (horned ogres), and other evil spirits inhabiting the underworld.

(Thor: Blood Oath#6 - BTS) - Mikaboshi is the
god of evil against the Kami, a race of extra-dimensional beings who were
worshipped as gods by the ancient Japanese. For millennia,
he has fought to possess the Grasscutter sword, a sacred weapon to the Kami
equal to Mjolnir among the Asgardian gods.

(Big Hero 6#2: Ebon Samurai (fb)) - In Yomi Mikaboshi sensed Kiochi Keishicho's thirst for vengeance and offered him to return to the mortal realm to exact his revenge on his murderer, the Silver Samurai. Kioshi accepted unaware Mikaboshi permanently bonded him to a suit of armor modeled after Silver Samurai's. In addition his katana sword was mystically bonded to the essence of a shinma demon's corrupting influence which subconsciously reminded him of the debt he owed to Mikaboshi and corrupted Ebon Samurai a bit more each time he drew the katana.

(Thor: Blood Oath#6 - BTS) - The Asgardian gods, Thor, Fandral,
Hogun and Volstagg, fought their way past Mikaboshi's armies of the undead in
order to take Grasscutter and depart Ama, the home of the Japanese Gods with it.

(Ares#1 - BTS) - Following the deaths of the gods of Asgard, Mikaboshi became bolder, and decided to launch an assault upon Olympus.

(Ares#2) - Zeus raised up mighty warriors such as Achilles to combat Mikaboshi. Mikaboshi faced Achilles in battle, and delivered a vicious scar to his face that would not heal. When Achilles left Alexander Aaron, son of Ares, alone with the Myrmidons while he went to recruit Ares from Earth, Mikaboshi attacked the temple of Achilles and spirited Alexander away. Assuming the form of a female, Mikaboshi began to twist Alexander's feelings for his father, using drugs to help convince Alexander to hate his father, and become a god of war himself.

(Ares#3) - Mikaboshi gave Alexander a suit of armor, and continued to drug him.

(Ares#4) - Assuming Alexander's form, Mikaboshi tricked Zeus into lowering his guard, and drove his hands through Zeus' chest. Zeus survived the wound, but Mikaboshi continued Alexander's training, and gave him the Grasscutter sword to wield against Ares.

(Chaos War: Ares#1 (fb) ) - The night before the final battle with Mikaboshi Nightmare helped Ares invade Mikaboshi's dreams. Nightmare suggested they become allies, but neither Ares nor Mikaboshi had an interest to do that and turned on Nightmare while fighting each other. Mikaboshi impaled Nightmare with his claws, forcing the demon to flee back to his realm. Ares lost connection to Mikaboshi's dream and they saw each other the next day.

(Ares#5) - Mikaboshi faced the armies of Olympus as they assaulted his realm, and he delivered a possibly fatal blow to Zeus. Before dying, Zeus used his magic to undo Mikaboshi's spell over Alexander. As the Kami arrived to help the Olympians, Alexander used the Grasscutter to slice Mikaboshi in half. Mikaboshi's realm was then swept over with a flood created by Neptune.

(Incredible Hercules#117 (fb)) - Mikaboshi was released from his prison in Yomi by Izanagi to assist Athena in her proposed mission to confront the Skrullian gods.

(Incredible Hercules#117) - When Mikaboshi was presented as the champion of the gods of the east Hercules was outraged that the being who slew his father would fight by his side. However, he ultimately accepted Mikaboshi's aid, joining with Ajak, Amadeus Cho, Demogorge and Snowbird as the "God Squad" aboard a vessel which could sail through the Dreamtime to the godly realms.

(Incredible Hercules#118) - In order to obtain a map of the Dreamtime the God Squad ventured into the realm of the demon Nightmare, who captured them so that he could examine their nightmares. However, Mikaboshi substituted a shadow copy of himself so that he could obtain the map in secret and bring it back to the team when they made their escape.

(Incredible Hercules#119) - The God Squad ran into the ranks of gods whose people had fallen to the Skrulls and had to fight their way through the beings. Narrowly escaping them, they ran into Kly'bn and Sl'gur't, the Skrullian gods.

(Incredible Hercules#120) - The God Squad fought the two gods; while Hercules ultimately triumphed over Kly'bn, Mikaboshi seemingly fell before Sl'gur't. However, Mikaboshi had actually assumed Sl'gur't's form and slain her; Mikaboshi laid claim to the enslaved gods of the Skrulls and vowed revenge on his enemies.

(Assault on New Olympus Prologue#1) - Mikaboshi invaded the M'kraan Palace and killed Sharra and K'ythri in their throne room.

(Chaos War: Chaos King#1) - Mikaboshi slew the gods of Zenn-La and enslaved them. Thrann, who felt inspired by the past sacrifice of Norrin Radd to save Zenn-La, kept fighting and was the last to fall. With his dying breath he warned Mikaboshi that Earth had not just one hero, but many.

(Heroic Age: Prince of Power#4) - Mikaboshi travelled with an army of extraterrestrial gods to Earth. Hercules felt his impending arrival after gaining omniscience and left to gather all heroes to stop Mikaboshi from annihilating all of reality.

(Chaos War: Chaos King#1) - Arriving in New York City Mikaboshi hid from Earth's heroes until he was strong enough to strike. He was seen by the Impossible Man, who liked the chaos Mikaboshi had brought upon the universe, but Mikaboshi was quickly annoyed by the constant prattle of the alien and destroyed him.

Hercules led an army of Earth's heroes against Mikaboshi and his army in the Dream Dimension, but when he and Thor found Nightmare's corpse they were already too late to warn the other heroes that Mikaboshi was now wielding the powers of Nightmare. When they turned around Mikaboshi had already forced all the attacking heroes into some kind of waking sleep.

(Chaos War: Chaos King#1) - Mikaboshi and his army attacked Hell and was opposed by Hell-lords and their servants, but they ultimately all fell and were enslaved by him. Before he faced Mikaboshi Satan told his son Hellstorm to go to Earth and prepare the mortals for Mikaboshi. Realizing Hell had fallen Hela teleported away as well. Satan was the last to fall and upon absorbing his power Mikaboshi finally felt powerful enough for the final step of his plan. With his fool Thrann in hand and his army behind him he made his way out of Hell through Purgatory. Thrann told Mikaboshi that even though he had defeated the denizens of Hell, who wanted to die, he was now going to face those who want to live, which would be much harder.

(Chaos War#2) - Mikaboshi's tendrils reached Earth trapping humanity into a state of waking sleep. While Hercules had returned the sleeping heroes to Earth Thor began saving planes, which would've crashed because the pilot fell asleep. Hercules used his omnipotent powers to stop time to prevented any planes crashes, car accidents and people dying during operations.

(Chaos War: Ares#1/Chaos War#2) - Hela arrived in Hades to warn Pluto of the Chaos King and his army, who were decimating the realms of dead. Ares led Pluto's army of undead heroes and villains to fight the Chaos King, but he easily defeated them after ripping of his cape and mask to reveal his true dark form. He then enslaved them alongside their former master Pluto and Hela. As a kind of revenge he left Ares' mind untouched, making him a prisoner in his own body.

(Incredible Hulks#619 (fb) ) - After the Chaos King broke the gates to Hell Doctor Strange tried to keep Abomination from entering Earth. The Chaos King slew Strange and enabled the demon Zom to take control over Strange's form. Chaos King asked Zom to serve him because they both wanted the same, then left to fight Hercules. Zom and Abomination then forged their plan to find Marlo Jones and use her past connection to Death to kill humanity with it.

(Chaos War#2) - Hercules accidentally released time when he felt Mikaboshi had slain his father Zeus in Hades once again and all the disasters he had tried to prevent before occurred. To the surprise of Amadeus Cho, Thor and Hercules nobody died despite massive injuries. Eternity appeared to Hercules and revealed the Chaos King planned to return everything to the void that was before creation, which would destroy Eternity as well. He hoped Hercules and his allies would defeat the Chaos King. After Sersi, Galactus, Venus and the Silver Surfer joined them Daimon Hellstrom appeared to reveal that none of the mortals had died because Death herself had fled her realm and that the dead would now awaken under the thrall of the Chaos King. Moments later the Chaos King's army arrived on Earth led by Zeus, Ares and Hera.

(Chaos War#3) - Hercules' God Squad fought the Chaos King's army led by his family. Zeus shrugged off even the most powerful attacks from Galactus, Hellstorm and Sersi, but was ultimately defeated by Hercules. Hercules opened a connection to the Council of Godheads with Zeus in his arms convince them to help against the Chaos King. Unaware the Chaos King himself had hidden inside Zeus' body everybody called him a fool even before the Chaos King ripped through Zeus corpse to reveal himself. The Chaos King took the opportunity to invade the Chamber of the Gods with his army through the connection opened by Hercules. From there he used the gates to the various pantheons' home dimensions to destroy them and then enslave them. The God Squad was unable to stop him from destroying the Maya's Upperworld and the Otherworld in quick succession before going after his cousins the Kami.

(Chaos War: God Squad#1/Chaos War#3) - The Chaos King fought the God Squad in Ama aided by Amaterasu, who vowed the Kami would defeat him once again. He slew Amaterasu to the shock of the God Squad.

(Chaos War#3) - With the gods defeated Mikaboshi threatened the God Squad, whose death he wanted to savor.

(Chaos War: God Squad#1/Chaos War#3) - Hellstorm, Sersi, Venus and Silver Surfer created a force field to protect themselves from the Chaos King and fled.

(Chaos War: God Squad#1) - Encountering Bast and Inari Okami, who was secretly already under the Chaos King's control, on their journey they were led to Takamagahara by the latter. Susanoo and Tsukuyomi led the God Squad to the gateway to Yomi. The God Squad planned to ally with the Kami to imprison Mikaboshi in Yomi once again, but the Kami had already fallen under Mikaboshi's control and turned on the God Squad. During their battle Tsukuyomi destroyed the gateway to Yomi to release the demons from the underworld and pit them against the God Squad. Venus summoned the Kraken to fight them while Sersi and Hellstorm sealed the gateway once again. Bast sacrificed herself fighting the demons to give the God Squad a chance to escape Takamagahara.

(Chaos War#3) - Thor got drawn into a battle with Glory while Hercules and Amadeus Cho fled back to Earth. The Chaos King lost the God Squad in himself because he had almost completely replaced Eternity. Athena then approached the Chaos King to tell him that Amadeus Cho and Hercules were the last remaining threats to him and that he should remember that he had only come so far because of her.

(Chaos War: Thor#1-2 - BTS) - Glory, the embodiment of an entire extraterrestrial pantheon of ten thousand entities, served the Chaos King and fought Thor, who ultimately slew Glory.

(Chaos War: Dead Avengers#1-3 - BTS) - Grim Reaper and Nekra served the Chaos King alongside monsters. They attempted to slay all the living and dead Avengers, but were thwarted by the resurrected heroes Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Deathcry, Doctor Druid, Yellowjacket (DeMara), Vision and Swordsman (DuQuesne).

(Chaos War: Alpha Flight#1) - The Chaos King and his army attacked Quidlivun. Nelvana opened a portal for her daughter Snowbird to escape. The Chaos King slew her moments later.

The Great Beasts had forged an alliance with Sasquatch (Langkowski) to be released from the Shattered Lands. They believed themselves to be powerful enough to defeat the Chaos King and fared well against his army alongside Alpha Flight and an army of Wendigos, but when the Chaos King arrived he slaughtered the Great Beasts within seconds. Alpha Flight vowed to go after the Chaos King.

(Chaos War#4) - The Chaos King listened to Athena's plan for him to destroy reality so it could reemerge and her wisdom about how he had consumed too much already and was now unable to find his remaining enemies. She tried to convince him that only she could help him and was killed and enslaved by the Chaos King for her hubris.

The Chaos King sent Athena to slay Hercules in Halemaumau Crater and Miek and an army of Negative Zone creatures to stop Galactus and Amadeus Cho at the Baxter Building from opening a wormhole to Hera's bubble universe Continuum. The Chaos King himself took Earth into his hands to absorb the planet as well. Gaea, who was dying due to the Chaos King's attack on her planet, told Hercules he had to remake himself and reality to be able to defeat the Chaos King. While Galactus was overwhelmed by the Negative Zone hordes and Cho still fought for his life, Hercules finally accessed his full potential and rose as the true super god, killing the Chaos King's servant Athena first. The Chaos King felt Hercules' rebirth, but mocked it because everything was already lost.

(Incredible Hulks#618 - BTS) - Improved by the Chaos King Abomination led a demon army to Earth to find and ran afoul the Hulk, A-Bomb, Red She-Hulk and She-Hulk, who had been lured back to Earth to supposedly aid against the Chaos King. In reality Strange was controlled by Zom and turned on them when he learned from A-Bomb that Marlo Jones, who had been once host to Death herself, was in Phoenix because Zom and Abomination were trying to harvest the spark of Death from Marlo Jones and kill all of humanity with it.

(Incredible Hulks#619) - Abomination and Zom took off to find Marlo in Phoenix, but Banner used a teleporter to get himself and his allies, including Korg and Skaar, there first. Marlo summoned the dead Doc Samson, Jarella, Glenn Talbot and Hiroim to aid the Hulks as well against Abomination, Zom and the demons from Hell. The fight took a turn when Bruce's parents returned as well and his father mutated into a demonic Hulk.

(Incredible Hulks#620) - The Chaos King and his army stood tall against the God Squad. Cho told Hercules they needed the Hulks, but Hellstorm revealed they were fighting a war on their own to save humanity from certain death.

(Incredible Hulks#620 - BTS) - Big fight between David Banner, Zom and Abomination against the Hulks until Zom got hold of Marlo and activated her powers only to be slain by her along with Abomination. She immediately regained control over her death powers again and nobody else died. The other dead returned to be dead and the Hulks were summoned by Hercules to face the Chaos King and his army alongside him.

(Chaos War#5) - Grown to planetary proportions Hercules fought the Chaos King outside Earth's orbit. Meanwhile Galactus used his own power to open a portal to Continuum. Cho calculated what could be done and came to the conclusion he couldn't save enough people by sending them to Continuum. The Chaos King slashed Hercules while his army fought the God Squad and Earth's remaining heroes. Ultimately Hercules punched the Chaos King through the portal to Continuum. The Chaos King consumed everything there and had his victory of returning a reality into an empty void. Back on the remains of Earth Cho held the bubble universe Continuum in his hand with the Chaos King trapped inside. Athena congratulated Hercules and tried her best to convince him to rule over a new existence, but instead Hercules restored everything to the way it was before and sacrificed his own godhood doing this.

Mikaboshi is one of those mythological
deities known by name only who has practically no history or even a strong
mythology behind him. What is known is that he is not a god in the physical
sense like Amaterasu and Susanowo, but a dark force that existed before the
universe, reigning in darkness and control. He is not a Japanese
"Satan" figure like Ravanna to the Hindu or a maligned god like Seth
to the Egyptians or Coyote
to the Native Americans. He is the antithesis to the positive forces of life in
Shinto religion. Japanese Onmyoji (mystics) attempted to establish a cult to
Mikaboshi in an attempt to direct the power of destruction against one's
enemies. Queen Hitoka of Yamato was one of the last known Mikaboshi worshipper
until turning to more diplomatic measures with China. Mikaboshi later returned
during World War Two in the form of the red sun insignia on the Imperial flag.

So far, the underworld of Yomi has not yet
been seen in the Marvel or DC Universes. It has appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles #46. How about that?! The demons of Yomi and the gate finally appeared in Chaos War: God Squad#1.